Inside Lysandra’s tent.

Ravian woke to a voice inside his head.

[Ding!]

[Xavier Meyer’s Records have been absorbed. Two additional lives have been obtained. Please use them wisely.]

[Ding!] 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

[Sovereign Pulse was automatically activated while the Host was unconscious in order to preserve the Host’s life.]

[Sovereign Pride Physique Progress: 5%]

[The Host’s physical abilities have increased significantly.]

[Please study the elements of Pride and Void further in order to raise the Host’s elemental power alongside the strength of his body and soul.]

[Displaying Host status.]

[Book: Sovereign Pride]

[Heir: Ravian Veyr]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 18]

[Rank: Tenth Rank — Awakened]

[Soul: Dual Soul — Unknown Rank]

[Extra Lives: 3]

[Element: Void]

[Available Sovereign Pride Abilities: Sovereign Pulse — can be used once per day; permanently increases the Host’s physical abilities.]

[Host’s Innate Ability: Absolute Focus — Unknown Rank]

[Physical Constitution: Basic-Grade Sovereign Pride Physique — Progress: 5%]

[Current Gate of the Book: Awakening]

[Next Gate: Walker]

With the final notification, Ravian’s eyelashes parted, revealing his crimson eyes beneath them.

His gaze settled on the system windows, and a smile crossed his face.

At first, this had only been curiosity to him—an interest in the powers of this world and what came with obtaining them. But the longer he stayed, the more a strange sense of need grew inside him. An obsession from a source he couldn’t name, to stand above everyone else.

He had never been the kind of person who loved arrogance, or who hungered for the highest ranks. But ever since he lost his mother, it was as though his true desires had begun rising to the surface—as if the madness hidden inside him had finally been touched by the first light of awareness.

’Why shouldn’t I become the strongest? Why shouldn’t I uncover the secrets of this insane world that took my life?’

’How did I come here? Did someone have a hand in what happened to me? And what is the source of this system of mine? Nothing is free in the end—am I wrong?’

’So why shouldn’t I uncover all of it, and crush anyone who stands in my way?’

’The reason?’

’Because they dared to tamper with my fate and toy with me,’ Ravian finished, settling the thought.

"You finally woke up." A feminine voice came from his right.

Ravian turned to look at the person he’d seen but not paid proper attention to earlier, having been occupied with other thoughts.

"Hello, Miss Lysandra. I apologize for the trouble—keeping you at my side like this in the state I was in," Ravian said, looking at her with a polite, apologetic expression as he sat up.

It was only then that he realized this was neither Malrik’s tent nor the treatment tent. From the look of the place—the panels hanging around, the scent in the air, and how far too organized it was for a battlefield camp—it was obvious the tent belonged to a woman.

"There’s no need to apologize. You weren’t the one who assigned me the task, after all," Lysandra said, watching him sit on her bed with an unreadable expression, her thoughts hidden from him.

’I think I should leave soon, before I lose one of my three lives,’ Ravian thought with an inward laugh, trying to get up—but Lysandra stopped him.

"Stay. You slept there for five hours. A few more minutes won’t be a problem," she said, settling onto a wooden chair beside the bed.

"Also—this isn’t my bed. Mine is over there."

When Ravian followed her gesture, he found it: a bed nearly twice the size of the one he was on, larger even than the one in Malrik’s main tent—a luxurious thing with crimson sheets the same shade as her hair, and beautiful shining amber pillows, looking for all the world like a royal bed planted in the middle of the camp’s otherwise modest furnishings.

"That’s a relief. For a second there, I thought I was sleeping in your bed. Haha," Ravian said, laughing at his own joke—though Lysandra either didn’t get it or simply didn’t care to.

"Ahem. By the way—what happened in the camp after I lost consciousness?" Ravian asked, awkwardly resolving never to use his peerless sense of humor on this crimson-haired girl again.

"Not much. The remaining spies were eliminated. Sir Karius came down personally to give a speech to the recruits. And once it was nearly over, Malrik brought Sir Karius, his granddaughter Angelina, and the four faction leaders to check on you—on Sir Karius’s order."

"He left some things for you, and ordered you to go to him once you woke up," Lysandra said in a calm, composed voice, pouring a cup of water from the jug on the table and handing it to him.

’Sir Karius came here with his granddaughter and his faction leaders? Sounds like he came to announce something, not just to check on me. And it seems this girl isn’t as harsh as I thought,’ Ravian thought, looking at the cup she’d poured for him.

He took it and drank to wet his dry throat.

"Ah—and the beast wave has already begun. The fighting should have started about an hour ago." Lysandra dropped it with the same calm expression—but this time, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Pfft—!" Ravian spat out half the water in his mouth from the shock, coughing hard.

Cough!

Cough!

"By the Creator—did you just say the fighting against the beast wave has already started on the front line?" Ravian asked, openly disbelieving at how she’d delivered the single most important piece of information since he woke up as the last item on her list, as if it were nothing.

Then he caught the faint, gloating smile on her lips.

’This girl... I think she’s genuinely irritated by my presence in her tent, but she doesn’t want to say it outright,’ Ravian thought, certain she’d chosen that exact moment to share such important news on purpose.

Lysandra’s lips curved ever so slightly, then she decided to answer properly.

"Yes, the fighting’s started over there. Sir Karius also said to bring you the moment you woke up. Something about how you’re not allowed to miss your first battle lying in bed—or words to that effect," Lysandra said, rising and crossing to a corner of the tent. She pulled out a set of medium leather armor and a longsword with a distinctly royal appearance, then tossed both to Ravian.

"What? I actually have to go in this state—right after waking up?"

Ravian asked, completely thrown, his eyes moving from the sword to the armor and back to Lysandra.

"Well, it was an order from Sir Karius, so I’d suggest you obey quietly, get yourself ready quickly, and prepare to go join the fight," Lysandra said, tilting her head and fixing her focus on him as she rolled up her sleeves in a way that looked almost as unhinged as Ravian himself.

"Hmm. Just a question—will you beat me up if I refuse to go?" Ravian asked, with the last shred of hope he had left.

"Wow. Truly clever. Yes, that is exactly what I’ll do," Lysandra said, clapping calmly, praising his intelligence.

’Damn you, my reckless lunatic of a master.’ Cursing the man responsible for all of this—in secret, of course—was the only weapon Ravian had left in his arsenal.